Virbhadrasana III (Warrior Pose)

Step 2. Move your right leg to the back so that they are 4 to 4 ½ feet apart

Step 3. Check that your hips are aligned and that your groin is facing the front

Step 4. Raise your arms up and above your head with an inhalation. You can rest your palms against each other or interlock your fingers. Ensure that your shoulders and neck remain elongated yet relaxed. Further lengthen your body with a deep and long inhalation

Step 5. Ears are alongside your biceps and arms and head are in one line

Step 6. Start leaning forward slowly with an exhalation so that your body weight moves in front and your right leg becomes light; (keep your chest elevated) (make sure that the whole body is working as one unit to lean forward rather just from the lower back)

Step 7.Rhythmically slide right leg close to the left one

Step 8. Hold for a second, inhale and then exhale to get your body parallel to the floor by raising your right leg up in the air, bringing your body in a T shape with your arms and right leg in one line but stretched in opposite direction

Step 9. Keep your abdomen soft and use it to stretch your leg and the arm further away from each other

Step 10. Left leg is tall and firm on the floor. Keep your left knee soft and left thigh fully engaged

Step 11. The hip of the leg which is in the air has a tendency to go up towards the ceiling; consciously make sure to get your hips in one line. This adjustment will immediately show its grip on the thigh of the leg which is on the floor (left leg in this case)

Step 12. Your head is in between your arms and you are looking at the floor slightly in front

Step 13. Hold the posture for 20 seconds with normal / deep breathing, come back slowly in reverse order and repeat with the other side

Tip: In case of tight hamstrings, bend the standing leg at the knee softly to avoid unnecessary pelvic rotation

Important Points

Core engagement is a must to lengthen and then strengthen. Weak core will fail to bring the firmness which, in turn, will make the posture wobbly

Tight or weak abductors and rotators can make the stabilization of the posture difficult

Benefits

A posture, which provides a unique blend of balance and stability

Upper Part

Virbhadrasana 3 deeply stretches the upper part of the body. Along with the arms, elbows, wrists and fingers, there is an opening at the upper as well as the lower edges of the armpits.

Spinal stretch

There is vertical extension of the spine which stretches the vertebrae away from each other, thereby, lubricating the discs and making our spine young and flexible. The sides of the body also get an equal stretch along with the spine.

Lower Part

Strengthens thighs, thereby, improves the health of the knees

Stretches the hamstring of the standing leg

Works on strengthening the adductors

There is knee extension on the leg in the air

Aligning the hips takes away the extra pressure from the gluteus maximus and works as a stabilizer for the hips and the core, developing strength in both these areas